In general, when frozen food is stored in a frozen state for a long period of time, a discoloring phenomenon in which the original color of the food is partially or wholly lost to be, for example, whitish, namely, what is called freezer burn, may sometimes occur, and this phenomenon lowers the commercial value in both the appearance and the texture.
As a method for preventing freezer burn of frozen food, Patent Literature 1 proposes a method for preventing freezer burn of frozen noodles comprising attaching a coating liquid containing at least water, common salt, oil or fat and a thickener to cooked noodles and freezing the noodles.
Patent Literature 2 describes a method for producing frozen noodles in which cooked noodles are coated with an emulsified oil obtained by mixing and emulsifying water, oil or fat, a protein and/or a hydrolysate thereof, and a polysaccharide thickener; the noodles are formed and frozen so that the frozen noodle mass may have a recessed part at the center thereof; water or an aqueous liquid is attached to the surface of the noodles during or after the freezing; and the resulting noodles are further frozen so as to form a frozen layer of the water or the aqueous liquid on the surface of the noodles.
Patent Literature 3 discloses that a high-oil emulsified oil or fat composition obtained by mixing an emulsifier, a polyhydric alcohol, water, and oil or fat under a specific condition is attached to cooked noodles, followed by freezing.
Besides, as a method for preventing freezer burn of frozen fried food, Patent Literature 4 proposes a method in which a thickener having properties of hardly dissolving in cold water and easily dissolving in hot water is contained in a coating mix. Patent Literature 5 describes a method for producing a frozen food in which a food is frozen after bringing an oil or fat containing an emulsifier into contact with the food.
There is, however, a demand for further means for more effectively preventing freezer burn of frozen noodles. Besides, there is a demand for means for giving favorable taste and flavor of oil or fat to frozen noodles while preventing freezer burn.